University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Master of Arts in History; Thesis, “American-French Relations and the Fusion of the Three Western Zones of Germany, 1945–49” under the direction of Profs. Gerhard L. Weinberg, William E. Leuchtenburg, and Don Reid (Grade: Excellent)

1986-1990

Albert-Ludwigs-University of Freiburg and University of Regensburg
Studies in History, British/American and French Literature, B.A./Zwischenprüfung

Academic Career

2009

Offer of full professorship for the History of Great Britain and North America (18th – 20th century), University of Kassel; declined

2008-

Professorship, since 2010 Chair for Modern and Contemporary History/North American History

2007-2008

Heisenberg scholarship, University of Cologne

2004-2006

Substitute Professor (Vertretungsprofessorin) for North American Social History at the University of Bremen and for Modern History at the University of Bremen

Research Award, Friends of the University of Tübingen (Vereinigung der Freunde der Universität Tübingen)

1990

Mowry Research Award Grant University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

1988-1989

Scholarship, DAAD

1986-1988, 1989-1991

Scholarship, Bavarian Organization for the Advancement of Gifted Students (Bayerische Begabtenförderung)

Research Projects and Third-Party Funding

2012-2017

Head of research project C2-3 "The Transcendental Creation of Community in a Multi-Religious Society: The U.S. from 1945 to 2005" in the Cluster of Excellence 212 „Religion and Politics in Premodern and Modern Cultures"

2009-2011

Head of research project B12 „Religion and ‚Civil Religion’ in U.S. Patriotic Holiday, 1945-1990/92“ in the Cluster of Excellence 212 „Religion and Politics in Premodern and Modern Cultures", funded by the DFG

2009-2011

Head of research project C9 „Symbolic Communication and Social Values Werte in Panindian Movements “ in the Collaborative Research Center 496 „Symbolic Communication and Social Value Systems", funded by the DFG

2004-2008

Member of the network „The Futures of (European) American Studies“, funded by the DFG

2000-2001

Head of TransCoop project „The German Experience with the Land in Wisconsin“, University of Cologne, University of Wisconsin, Madison

Academic Functions and Positions

2014-16

Executive Director of the Department of History

2014-

Deputy member of the Rectorate Committee on Research Matters

2013-

Member of the Library Commission of the WWU

2012-2016

Member of the Board of the Center for Religion and Modernity

2012-

(Deputy) Member of the Faculty Council

2012-2015

(Deputy) Member of the Faculty Commission for Evaluation and Student Course Review

2012-2015

Deputy Chairperson of the Faculty Commission for Research, Research Funding and Junior Scientific Staff

2012-14

Member of the Rectorate Committee for Internationalization

2012/13

Deputy Chairperson of the Evaluation Commission of the GHI Washington

2010-2014

Chairperson of the working group of Non-European History (Arbeitskreis Außereuropäische Geschichte)

2009-

Fulbright liaison professor, University of Munster

2009-2014

Reader for Amerikastudien/American Studies

2008-2013

Chairperson of the committee for the prize of The German Association for American Studies (GAAS) of the Stiftung Deutsch-Amerikanische Wissenschaftsbeziehungen (Foundation German-American Academic Relations) in the Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft

2007-2008

Member of the subcommittee „Ranking and Evaluation“ of the German Historical Association (Historikerverband, VHHD)

2006-2014

Member of the Board of Directors of the Working Group for Non-European History within the VHHD

Das Nationalkomitee und der Westen: Das NKFD und die Freien Deutschen Bewegungen aus der Sicht der Westalliierten, 1943–1948 (The National Committee for a Free Germany and the West: The NCFG and the Free German Movements as Seen by the Western Allies, 1943–1948). Stuttgart: Steiner, 1997.

2. Journal Articles:

“The Singing Festivals of German Americans, 1849–1914”, in: American Music 34/2. S. 141-179.

„From Celebrating the Old to Celebrating the New: The Formation of a German-American Identity, 1859-1914.“ In: Udo Hebel (Ed.), Sites of Memory in American Literature and Cultures. Heidelberg: Winter, 2003, pp. 193-212.

“Demonstrating the Values of ‘Gemütlichkeit’ and ‘Culture’: The Festivals of German-Americans in Milwaukee, 1870–1910.” In: Geneviève Fabre/Jürgen Heideking/Kai Dreisbach (Eds.), Celebrating Ethnicity and Nation: American Festive Culture from the Revolution to the Early Twentieth Century. New York: Berghahn, 2001, pp. 175–193.